Jimmy Simpson – North To The Last Frontier

This post is more personal for me. Jimmy Simpson was my uncle…my mom’s brother. The man got around and had an interesting life. He was an extra in some movies (the one I know is The Alamo) because of his friendship with John Wayne and James Arness. He was built like them and reminded me of both.

He was born in 1928 and moved out of Tennessee in the early 50s and went to Florida and ended up in Texas working in oil fields while playing at night at clubs. He would go to gigs in Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida, Louisana, Texas, and everything in between. He wasn’t an amateur…he played with some big players like Jim Reeves’ Blue Boys.

He recorded some singles while living in Nashville and Texas. Jimmy and his wife got to know Jimmie Rodger’s widow which this below sounds like it’s heavily influenced by.

He then moved to Alaska in the late 50s to mine for gold which he was successful at. He bought into a snowmobile factory there and played country music in bars in Alaska and Canada. He also released a few albums and charted on local charts in Alaska and Canada.

Simpson Earnest Tubb
Nashville, mid-1950s. From left: Billy Byrd, Ernest Tubb, Jimmy Simpson. Courtesy Jimmy Simpson.

My dad’s side of the family made guitars and they gave Jimmy an acoustic. Gower guitars are compared to Martins and still get really high prices at shops and on eBay. He had that guitar stolen while playing in Alaska…he finally chased the guy down and got the guitar back. The man tore out one of the serial numbers inside the guitar but didn’t get by with it…and knowing my uncle Jimmy the dude was probably missing some teeth afterward. My uncle was a man’s man. He told me about it…“Max…you don’t mess with a man’s guitar…you just don’t.”

Around six months before my uncle passed away in 2014, he came by and gave me that guitar and another one his daughter once owned that our family made. I asked him why because he treasured those guitars (his daughter passed away a few years earlier) and he said, “I want you to have them before I pass away to make sure you get them.” He was 86 at the time. I will treasure them and I play them a lot. I would include a picture but they are getting serviced right now.

He also had an autobiography published in the mid-90s called A Vanishing Breed: The Gold Miner that I read and he lived 3 lifetimes in one. I remember as a kid him showing me this bag of gold…pieces as big as a quarter and very thick. You know it’s a shame…so many questions I would love to ask the man now.

Here is one recording from 1956… I’ll copy what it says from the wired-for-sound.blogspot.com. It’s called “Blue As I Can Be“…it has a little of the Johnny Cash sound in it.

Jimmy Simpson, Tennessee honky tonk singer, Texas oilfield wildcatter, and Canadian gold digger made this one superb session in a West Monroe, Louisiana radio station studio in 1956 with Bobby Garrett (steel) and Leo Jackson (lead guitar), both on hiatus from Jim Reeves’ Blue Boys. Records and gigs weren’t paying Jimmy’s rent, so he picked up jobs working in Texas oil fields for much of the 1950s, before moving to Alaska in 1957.

“I lived at Greggton, Texas (in 1956-57),” Jimmy said in an interview. “We were on our way back from Nashville to San Angelo, and we stopped at Greggton…little town just out of Longview. We had everything we owned in the car. I had my work shoes and my hardhat, ‘cause I could always go to work on an oil rig if everything else failed. In a little restaurant there in Greggton, there was a driller in there that was short-handed, and I overheard ‘em talking. I walked over there and said, “You looking for a derrick man?” He said, “Yeah. You got your work shoes and hardhat with you?” I said, “I got it all underneath the trunk of my car.”

At the time of this session, Jimmy was appearing at the famed Reo Palm Isle club in Longview. “That’s Bobby and Leo (on the session). I forget who that bass player was. He was from Monroe. I’m on rhythm guitar. I didn’t carry a fiddle at that time, but when I was in San Angelo at the Peacock Club, I had two steels and a fiddle. Everybody else would talk about two fiddles. I didn’t make any money up there myself. I was working on an oil rig. But I thought it would be different… Jiffy (Fowler) was a jukebox operator. I just kind of stumbled into him. It was a disc jockey there in Monroe, Ed Hamilton, who set us up in there and turned us loose…You know why that ‘Blue As I Can Be’ come by? Johnny Horton’s ‘I’m a Honky-Tonk Man.'” Two other songs recorded at this session were released on Big State 595 in the Starday custom series.

…

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

41 thoughts on “Jimmy Simpson – North To The Last Frontier”

  1. Fantastic post Max. Your Uncle definitely sounds like he has lived life and a touring musician at one point and a gold miner! Awesome he passed on the guitars to a great home!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  2. Such a great piece on American history and to think you’re Uncle was right in the mix. He was a very talented singer and certainly comparable to his contemporaries. So wonderful you got to know him a bit and that you have those guitars. Thanks for sharing.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. Thanks for sharing, Max, what an incredible story!

    Alaska is probably not what you’d associate with country but, hey, why not! That tale about the guitar is great. I’m so glad your uncle got it back.

    And that quote is priceless: “Max…you don’t mess with a man’s guitar…you just don’t”. It would make a great topic for a song. As we know Keith Richards learned the hard way when Chuck Berry punched him in the face after Keith had touched Berry’s guitar. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      2. Yea I have the other one also…which is cool. I think he knew he didn’t have much longer. I just wished I would have asked more questions.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Awesome piece Max! I didn’t know you had a recording artist in your family…or a published author. Very cool & I’m glad you shared that. Do you have actual records by him? Your dad’s guitar making sounds like another post to do sometime too.
    As for the songs- right now I’m on my phone & when I click it says ‘an error occurred’…not uncommon. So I’ll try again when I get to my computer later today

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I do have that Alaska album in storage. What surprised me Dave is there is a lot of stuff out there about him…as Randy said…he sounds a lot like his peers at the time…that one song is close to rockabilly for a few minutes.
      Yea I would like to get some of my guitars in a post….most come with a story attached.

      Like

      Reply

  8. Enjoyed that Max. So much to take in. A little Canadian geography lesson (British Colombia) on the Alcan Run. When I say “rounder” I say that with envy. How many people have the spirit like Jimmy to do what he did? Up to Northern Canada and Alaska back then was no easy time. Hard people, hard country. Havent even mentioned how good the tunes are. Top notch and then for you to get a piece of him with his instrument. Great story and all those great images and sounds it conjures. Cool thing is you have quality recordings!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks for reading CB…. See I learn something everyday! I didn’t know that with British Colombia.
      I was amazed that there is a lot of information out there on him…so I learned a lot about him doing this that I had no clue about…like that recording in Louisana… with Jim Reeves band.

      Like

      Reply

      1. That’s unforgiving country even today. You dont mess with Mother Nature up there. Jimmy had some grit. Those places were always looking for someone who could play a tune. He must have blown people away.
        Just watched the Alamo a while back. Full of great looking characters.I could sit around and listen to him all day long.
        (Two Jimmy’s today and very similar vibe)

        Liked by 1 person

      2. His wife learned how to fly so they would fly out when they needed supplies. They went up there with nothing and made something. He wold talk about a club called The Klondike…but I’m sure there were a lot of clubs up there with that name.
        Thanks CB!

        Like

  10. Interesting family you have there Max, to say the least. I also think that anyone who steals someones instrument is a soulless asshole. If music is at your core to steal someones instrument would be like ripping your heart out.

    But if you’re a picker don’t punch the culprit and ruin your hands. Smash him over the head with his own solid body a few times. Then crunch HIS low down stealing hand. Peace and love etc.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. I remember you saying one of your relatives gave you some guitars. Good to hear more about how it came about and your larger than life uncle. He’s the kind of uncle kids dream of having. He made really good music; well-produced. I’m guessing he was using one of those guitars on at least one of these recordings?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. The bottom ones yes in the 60s…that is when he got it. He was a cool guy I have to admit. You don’t really realize until after they are gone.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  12. Wow, listening to North to the Last Frontier and it reminded me that Alaska didn’t become a State until 1959. This song would be a great State Anthem. It is a “star the flag I love.”

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. He did love it up there…him and his wife Marcene was ahead of their time. She was flying their plane in and out for supplies…

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Oh wow! Now that is the ultimate in cool. Did you ever watch Northern Exposure? They had a female pilot who flew stuff in and out. It’s not beyond the scope of possibility that the character on the show was based on your aunt.

        Liked by 1 person

  14. Great story Max! Your Uncle’s music sounds just like the stuff my Pop listened to when I was growing up. I’ll have to ask him if he remembers the name. 

    Your uncle sounds like an incredibly interesting guy. They just don’t make ’em like they used to!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment